YOUNG GUNS GO FOR IT!
Breathing space for Arteta and shock for Chelsea as...
THIS was supposed to be a requiem for Mikel Arteta. This was supposed to be a dirge commemorating another stage in Arsenal’s plunge towards the grim indignity of an all- out relegation battle, a fresh assessment of just how far they have fallen. Instead, as highflying Chelsea anticipated making the pain of their London rivals even worse, Arsenal turned to youth and surprised everyone with a song of defiance and rebirth.
In an Arsenal season that has been characterised by disillusion with established stars like Willian, David Luiz, Granit Xhaka and PierreEmerick Aubameyang, this 3-1 win felt like a transformative moment when Arteta put his faith in the kids. And the kids responded. Bukayo Saka, who scored the third, was probably the pick of the emerging stars but Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney and Gabriel Martinelli lent this performance a sense of optimism and hope that Arsenal have not felt for a long time.
And because this is football and because football is theatre, even if their young stars set the tone for their victory, one of the heroes of Arsenal’s salvation was a renegade angel who is the fans’ favoured target f or abuse. When Xhaka was sent off during the home defeat to Burnley a fortnight ago, ma n y A r s e n a l supporters d e ma n d e d he never play for the club again but he scored a quite stunning free kick to put Arsenal two up here. For one night, and perhaps one night only, the fans will be glad that they were ignored.
The win, Arsenal’s first in the league since November 1, moved t hem one place further up the t able, above Leeds, into 14th, but the longterm effect this victory has on the club’s morale, and their season, should be immeasurably more important. Most obviously, it lifted the immediate pressure on Arteta, who was running out of time to save his job, and if he acts on the evidence he saw here, he will trust more in his young players. For Chelsea, this was a rude shock. They went into the game eyeing second place, not a humbling at the hands of a club in crisis. Their performance will have worried Frank Lampard because so many of his players were flat and anonymous. Arsenal were vulnerable going into the match but Chelsea were outfought by a team which looked as if it wanted to win more. Perhaps it was just a reality check for L a m p a r d ’s side. He has never made any boasts about what he expects f rom them this season and this performance sug - gested that any suggestions they are ready to challenge for the title are fanciful. They are simply not consistent enough. Lampard took Timo Werner off at half time and the Germany striker is one of a few players struggling to find their best form. The defeat leaves them below Aston Villa, in seventh.
Arteta had made six changes to the side beaten by Everton in their last Premier League game and his selection carried the mark of a man who was desperate enough to throw in the kids. Luiz and Willian were not even in the squad, although they were said to be unwell. Gabriel was self-isolating and will miss the next two matches as well, Aubameyang, recovering from a calf strain, was on the bench.
Instead, hope resided in the presence of players like Martinelli, Smith Rowe and Saka, the next generation, who are being pressed into becoming the now generation because the seniors, at the heart of so much disillusion around the club, are performing so poorly. Maybe Arteta was gambling on his young stars playing without the fear that has infected the rest.
Chelsea’s side, unsurprisingly, looked far more settled. Lampard was operating from a position of relative strength, knowing the pressure Arteta and his team were under and looking forward to trying to make it worse. ‘We don’t want to let them off,’ Lampard said.
Arsenal, though, did not begin like a side resigned to defeat. With their first attack, Hector Bellerin overlapped down the right and ran on to a pass from Mohamed Elneny. His deep cross flicked off a defender’s head and fell to Martinelli at the back post but the ball came at him fast and awkwardly and he could only direct it wide of Edouard Mendy’s left-hand post.
A silly tackle by Xhaka — the latest in a long line — gave Chelsea a chance to hit back with a free kick on the edge of Arsenal’s area.
Maso Mason Mount curled it over th the wall and, with Bernd Leno beaten, it kissed the outside of the post as it flew behind to safety. Mount held his head in his hands in frustration.
Arsenal should have taken the lead after 25 minutes when the ball broke to Bellerin in space on the right. He advanced and squared to Smith Rowe but he snatched at the chance and sliced his shot so badly that it fell to Martinelli. Martinelli tried to rifle the ball past Mendy but it was deflected wide for a corner. This time, it was Arteta’s turn to hold his head in his hands.
His despair did not last. Ten minutes before the interval, Tierney, who was running the game from left-back, collected the ball near the corner flag and turned inside Reece James. James t ri ed to recover but appeared to tread on the back of Tierney’s left foot. Tierney fell and Michael Oliver pointed to the spot. Alexandre Lacazette drilled the penalty past Mendy.
Arsenal went further ahead on the stroke of half time. Saka was brought down by N’Golo Kante on the edge of the area and Xhaka stepped up to take it. He curled a stunning free kick over the Chelsea wall and high into the net beyond the forlorn dive of Mendy. It was an unlikely redemption tale but it was that kind of night.
Eleven minutes after half-time, Arsenal put the game beyond doubt with a third goal which lent the contest a surreal air after so many had predicted it would be so heavily weighted in Chelsea’s favour. Smith Rowe and Saka combined and Saka drifted a chip, that might have been intended as a cross, over Mendy and in off the far post. Genius or good fortune? It didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter, partly because the match was already decided and because Arsenal were comfortably the better team: Lacazette should have scored again when Mendy cleared straight to him and Elneny nearly made it four with a shot off the underside of the crossbar.
Arsenal contrived to make it an edgy last few minutes and Tammy Abraham pulled one back for Chelsea in the 85th minute. Thiago Silva also went close before Pablo Mari brought down Mount for a Chelsea penalty as the match ticked over into injury time. Substitute Jorginho took it but it was superbly saved low to his left by Leno.
This was Arteta’s night, a night that might just have saved him and Arsenal’s season.